Need opinions on new receiver (1 Viewer)

[Tim_N]

Long time listener, first time caller. I'm ready to upgrade my HT audio, and hopefully stimulate the economy. I currently have an old Yamaha Pro Logic receiver (RXV-850) along with a Carver 2 channel THX amp. My front speakers are B&W 600i's, while my rears are Def Techs. My plan is to upgrade my center to the LCR6-S2, freeing up my old one for a rear center. I also plan on getting a SVS 25-31PC to replace an old nearly worthless Pioneer sub. So now for the receiver. I want to upgrade the technology (obviously) as well as the quality. Since most of my use is cable TV and S-VHS recordings (and hopefully soon OTA HDTV), with some DVD and music, I think Pro Logic II sounds like a good idea. I'd like to keep the receiver under $1500 and I'm not opposed to getting it on-line. So far I've listened to the Pioneer VSX-39TX and the Rotel 1065. Both sounded great with speakers close to mine. The 39TX doesn't have PL II of course, but it is getting quite cheap on-line (under $1200). The Rotel is a bit pricey and not available on-line. So my current thinking is the Kenwood VR-5700. The Pioneer 47TX is also a bit pricey and has more amplified channels than I need (since I have the Carver). Will there be a 45TX or a 46TX? And then there is the yet unseen Marantz 8200. The Kenwood has all the bells and whistles, but I'd like to know that the sound quality is on par with Elite and the Rotel. Unfortunately I can't really demo the Kenwood with B&W speakers. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Tim

 

[Jeffrey_Jones]

Opinions, sure...I can do that.
Buy the Onkyo 898 from J and R audio for around $1000. It sounds great, has every feature you will want for the forseable future and some that you don't even know you need yet. It's easy to use and has a great remote that will control every IR component in your system.
Thanks,
Jeff

 

[BryanZ]

Denon AVR-3802 or 4802 or the Onkyo TX-DS898 would seem to be your best bets. If could afford it, I'd say get the Outlaw 950 preamp and 770 amp. However, that may require your selling your current amp and I'm not sure if you want to do that. Good luck!

 

[Tim_N]

Thanks - I'll look into those further, even with the 7 channel amp on the Onkyo. Any Kenwood supporters out there? Anybody?